Deathbed Discoveries
by melonkitty
Summary: Severus Snape never thought that he would survive the poison of the snake, yet as he is recovering, a startling discovery about The-Boy-Who-Lived, will not only change his life, but turn it upside down. Partly AU, slight OOC, used creative license.
1. Chapter 1

**[A/N: This story is partially AU in some areas, and the actions of some characters are slightly OOC.]**

**Deathbed Discoveries**

**ONE**

The Dark Lord was dead, and Severus Snape was alive.

Two things that the man himself had not expected.

Then again he had not expected to have need of medical attention because of the venom from Nagini in his system.

After a few days and after he was more clear and aware, he noticed that Madame Pomfrey would suddenly stop and rush into one of the quarantine rooms behind her office.

"Poppy, who is in the quarantine?" He asked once.

She looked at him sternly. "Harry." She said offhandedly.

Severus nearly spit out the potion she had given him for his headache. "WHAT?"

"Shh!" She told him after giving him a stern look.

"What is he doing here?" He asked after a moment.

Poppy sighed. "He's near death, Severus, now you need to lie back and rest."

"Death?" His eyes went large. "But, he defeated the Dark Lord, he can't be near death."

"Yes he can, Severus, and he is." She reprimanded him. "He may have destroyed the Dark Lord but it made him severely ill, and things have only gotten worse from there."

Severus was flabbergasted, then Poppy suddenly dropped the tray in her hands and went running into the room that apparently housed the dying Savior.

Knowing that he shouldn't, Severus got up and followed her, and stopped dead in the door.

Potter lay out on the bed, shaking, apparently having a seizure, muggle IV's in his arms dripping blood and potions back into his pale and sweating form.

Poppy grabbed the boys head and did her best to still him. "Severus get the blankets off." She told him, making no note that he was out of bed.

Still shocked he pulled the twisted blankets away.

After a few minutes, Potter stilled.

Poppy sighed, taking the blankets away from her still silent friend.

"What happened, Poppy?" He asked after a moment.

She glanced at him. "Several blood curses at once." She told him. "He's lucky he's alive. But other than this," She gestured towards the IV's. "I can't help him.

"So, he's dying." Severus muttered under his breath.

Poppy smiled slightly at him. "He is, but…" She stood. "Come, there is something that you need to know." She motioned him out.

They sat back on Severus's bed and she sighed. "In order to treat you for Nagini's poison I had to run a blood test. I had to do the same for Harry because of the blood curses." She looked back at the room for a moment before returning her gaze to him. "I found that James Potter wasn't his father."

Again the thought of his eyes being stuck crossed Snape's mind. And then he put two and two together. "Lily and I were dating before she married Potter."

Poppy nodded. "The boy may very well be on his deathbed, Severus, but he is your son."

This time, Severus was sure that his eyes would get stuck in their widened state for the rest of his life.


	2. Chapter 2

**[A/N: Sorr that this is so late guys. Quick warning:There are events in this story that d not match with those in the books, I cannot tell you where, for that would spoil it, but please attempt to treat this story almost as it's own. It has been a while since I read the Deathly Hallows, so it will vary greater than if I had read it yesterday.  
Thank you, everyone who reviewed, I was wondering whether I would find the base to follow this story through, and I believe that I will. This came out of the blue, so it may be a time until I update it again, so please be patient, I don't like as flighty muse but that is the way of things. Now, on with the story! ~melonkitty.]**

**Deathbed Discoveries**

**TWO**

Severus Snape was never known as a man to be emotional about anything, other than the vehement protests which he gave on many occasions towards a various amount of subjects, but the fact that he had just discovered he had a son, and said son being a boy that he had verbally tormented for the larger part of his young life, did not make the situation any better; in fact, poor Sev was more or less at a standstill within himself.

"Severus, what are you doing out of bed?" Poppy asked him, looking up at him from a book as he stood in the doorway of Harry's room.

"I don't know." He told her, at a sudden loss for words.

"He's been doing better, I think he jst might make it if he can wake up." She looked at him again, getting up from her chair. "Well, I have to go see how the Weasley's are, if you don't mind, could you keep an eye on him?" Poppy asked. "Most of the time he sleeps in a endused coma, but I want to see if he can wake on his own. If he does, just talk to him, he might be delirious, he might not, you could tell him your his father, but I have a feeling he already knows."She said with a slight smile.

"How is that?" He asked.

"Just because he's in a coma, doesn't mean that he can't hear." She reprimanded him. "I have a very slight hope that he can make it, if he has something to fight for."

"Why do you say that? He's been living these past seventeen years."

She shook her head. "If anyone could understand Severus, it would be you." She told him. She looked wistfully at the boy on the bed. "You share more than blood, Sev, you share experiences. He isn't as pampered as you thought."

"There is no way that Albus would have left him in a home like mine was." He whispered to himself when it dawned on him what she meant.

She smiled slightly. Then went over to the bed and pulled Harry's sleeve up past his elbow.

Upon the lightly tanned skin, were serveral dozens of scars, some red and healing, others a slight silver, and where one layered the other, they were a purple that you wanted to look away from.

"You know what these are Severus. I myself helped you past your own." She paused to look at him. "You know what promts this."

Severus stared at the boy on the bed. And a boy he was. He was shorter by the Weasley boy by a head, and terribly thin, whether from his current health or time he knew not. _You're just now noticing this? _His mind reprimanded him.

Poppy put the sleeve down. Then gently rolled him onto his side, pulling up the back of his shirt, saying nothing as she went.

To say that Professor Snape saw red would be a gross undestatement.

Across the boys back, scars reigned. There was no place that hadn't a one. He saw, from his light medi-wizard training, the damage that sunburned scars also did, residing in their bright red, looking like burns where the skin was marred.

"Albus was a fool. To both of you." Poppy said angrily. "And I do hope that you plan on redeeming yourself Severus, because I know that you caused some of the scars he bears. Both on his body and his heart." She looked at him then, and he noticed tears in her eyes.

"You said that he could make it if he had something to fight for. That means you believe he has nothing to fight for right now, what did you mean Poppy?" Severus asked, feeling as though he was missing part of the picture.

She looked at him. "I know for a fact that his home was worse than yours was. You didn't want to carry on. Put two and two together, Sev." She said walking out the door. She came back after a moment and waved her wand at the bed, makign restraints appear on the bed and boy alike. "He's restrained right now, if he has a siezure, just keep his head still." Then she left again.

Severus Snape put two and two together alright, staring at the son that he thought was someone else's for most of his life.

The Boy-Who-Lived, wanted to die. He had seriously wanted to die.

Severus Snape sat, quite hard, in the empty chair that Poppy Pomfrey had left behind, and did something he hadn't done within the time that the boy lived.

Snape, the bat of the dungeons, cried to undo what had been done.

**[A/N2: Quick question... I would like to give Harry a handicap of some sort, one that will last the rest of his life and make him somewhat dependant on Sev for the near future, for I do plan on him waking up and being alright in general areas, with a few issues. So what should it be? This story is as much your as it is mine. ~melonkitty.]**


End file.
